


fresh air in your lungs (breathe in it's good for you)

by falsealarm



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Day At The Beach, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsealarm/pseuds/falsealarm
Summary: They’re in the south of France. Charlie didn’t specify where exactly but Astra doesn’t really care, she only wanted to spend a day at the beach and this one is surprisingly picture perfect.[for Chastra Week 2020, prompt: "discovery"; post season 5]
Relationships: Charlie/Astra Logue
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	fresh air in your lungs (breathe in it's good for you)

**Author's Note:**

> Because we all know that Charlie IS coming back to the Waverider we're going to pretend this takes place a few weeks after she disappears to be famous and party with The Smell. I was going to post this for "tender" but it ended up being a little more feisty so posting for "discovery" instead because it still works (maybe even better).
> 
> I edited this fic exactly once and barely because that's just how writing works for me now. Have fun reading!

“Did you not realize that daytime meant the sun was out?”

Charlie drops everything she’s holding – and everything is a lot, Astra didn’t realize you needed so much stuff to go to the beach – and huffs hotly. “I know how the sun works.”

“And yet you wore that?” Astra gestures to Charlie’s outfit for emphasis. It’s a good look for say, a night out at a punk club or a night out stalking a villainous historical figure, _night_ being the keyword there. She’s got enough tight clothing on that already she’s visibly sweating from their short walk down the beach.

She wipes the sweat from her brow, “it just wasn’t this hot the last time I was here.”

“You said the last time you were here it was 2am and you were throwing firecrackers into the sea.”

“Exactly, it’s not hot at 2am. I just—.” Charlie swallows visibly and pulls the collar of her shirt away from her neck in attempt to cool herself, “—didn’t account for the time difference or whatever.”

“If you pass out I’m not carrying you back to the jump ship.”

“Wow.”

As Charlie leans down to grab water from their cooler Astra has a chance to look out at the vista before them. It’s mid-July, the sun is high in a bright blue, cloudless sky and the Mediterranean Sea is sparkling. Waves crest and break against the shore in calming repetition and the surf tickles at Astra’s toes as she subconsciously walks forward towards the expanse.

They’re in the south of France. Charlie didn’t specify where exactly but Astra doesn’t really care, she only wanted to spend a day at the beach and this one is surprisingly picture perfect.

Behind her, Astra hears Charlie fussing with something. She curses softly and Astra turns to find her pulling out an umbrella, comically fighting with the contraption as she tries to stick it in the sand. Charlie stabs the pole down with a solid thrust but as she pulls her hand away it immediately falls over. Astra laughs loudly, one breathy pop of sound in the air and Charlie turns around, eyes narrowed.

“Are you going to help set up or what?”

“You were the one who wanted to bring all this stuff. I only need a towel.”

Charlie huffs, “ _you_ were the one who wanted to spend a whole DAY at the beach. You can’t do that with just a towel.”

“You sound like Ava.”

“Take that back,” Charlie growls but there’s something soft about the look behind her eyes, like she’s been caught doing something she thought she’d gotten away with.

Astra smiles, happy to have possibly discovered a secret. “Wait, did Ava pack all this stuff for us?”

“ _No_ ,” Charlie starts, ducking eye contact as she reaches over to pick up the umbrella again. “She just suggested a few things for me to bring.”

“ _A few things?_ ” Astra repeats, eyeing the pile of bags and chairs and what Astra thinks could be inflatable toys hidden beneath the massive blanket by Charlie’s feet.

Charlie ignores her for a few seconds as she slams the umbrella into the sand again. She gets down on her knees to force it in deeper and Astra watches the muscles of her arms strain, the line of her jaw tightens as she works the shaft of the umbrella deeper into the sand. Untoward thoughts flit at the edges of Astra’s mind but they’re batted off as Charlie turns to her and says softly, “I just wanted you to have a nice time, okay?”

So, this is an apology then.

Astra hadn’t yet settled on what it was that Charlie was trying to do with this trip. When Charlie had spotted her “to-do” list the day before Astra’s hackles had been up immediately, ready to defend her choices, its existence. But Charlie had only given it a once over and said she knew a beach that Astra would like, if that was something she really wanted to experience. _“Sand’s a bitch though, just so you know.”_ She’d said and Astra was still mad, she _is_ still mad but at that point Charlie offering to spend time with her after all her time away had only sounded like a good idea.

“You know, the umbrella’s pointed in the wrong direction,” Astra answers, looking up through her sunglasses at the sun then down to the shadow of the umbrella.

Charlie huffs, the softness disappearing as she starts swearing again, “give me a minute, shit.”

The minute lasts 5 but by the end of all Charlie’s fussing they’ve got a blanket on the ground, 2 chairs settled under the shade of the umbrella and a small collection of snacks to choose from, all appropriately chilled to beat the sun’s heat.

The crowd has grown around them since they arrived but not by much. Apparently, Charlie’s beach is _private_ so only local homeowners are scattered about, a few of them have already been giving Astra and Charlie some pointed looks. Astra can’t decide if stabbing a Frenchman would make her beach day better or worse.

“Do you want a drink?”

Behind her, Charlie’s holding out a water bottle but Astra waves her hand, “I think you should probably have that one. I did mean it when I said I wouldn’t carry you back to the jump ship.”

“Fine,” Charlie huffs but immediately unscrews the lid and chugs the entire bottle with one long, messy gulp. The line of Charlie’s neck glints with cool water as she tilts her head back and Astra takes a moment to admire the length, the way a single drop of water slides down smooth skin and disappears beneath the collar of Charlie’s shirt. She chucks the empty bottle into her chair and stretches, arms out then up. “You think this beach is topless?” Charlie asks, eyes dipping to Astra’s chest obviously before scanning the crowd around them.

It definitely isn’t.

“If you don’t change you’re going to faint, go put something else on.”

“I can just get undressed here.”

Astra rolls her eyes. “If you start stripping, we’re going to get kicked out. Do you want to pack all this back up?”

A flash of honesty to goodness terror skates across Charlie’s eyes as she realizes that what Astra says is true. “Fine. I think I’ve got extra clothes on the ship.”

Charlie trudges off without another word and Astra begins to settle into their little setup. She slowly starts to disrobe, untying the blue and white wrap at her waist and shrugging it off her shoulders to reveal a tasteful black one-piece suit beneath it. The sun is a welcome heat on her back and shoulders as she tucks the wrap into a bag then stands to stretch and watch the waves crash against the shore again.

The world is beautiful in ways that Astra didn’t realize it could be. It’s bright and colorful and warm sure, but it’s also slow and quiet. The thing about Hell is that it’s always moving and breathing and screaming. Always dirty, always hot, always loud and mean and angry with no room to breathe or pause or gather yourself. Astra feels like all she has now is time to breathe.

She inhales deeply. She breathes in and doesn’t cough because this air is fresh and salty and warm and it fills Astra’s lungs with unmade wishes and quiet promises. The beach was a very good idea, she’ll have to thank Sara for the suggestion.

Now, Astra might not know much about the world now but she _is_ intimately familiar with the stinging misery of a sunburn, a surprisingly common torture tactic in Hell.

And because Ava is exactly the type of person to worry about sun protection, Astra is unsurprised when she finds not one, not two but three types of sunscreen in a tote bag that also contains a small first aid kit and an extra towel. As the first cool dabs of sunscreen hit her skin, Astra realizes she’s never put sunscreen on herself before. She has a faint memory of her mother doing it when she was younger, warm hands rubbing at her skin, the salty and slightly chemical smell that followed her around.

She gets her limbs done just fine, her shoulders and the generous vee of skin exposed by the front of her suit follow after and as she’s rubbing sunscreen into her cheeks with both hands Charlie’s shadow creeps along the sand beside her feet.

“Need help?” It’s playful but sincere, a mix that Astra’s slowly been getting used to.

Astra turns with hands still on her face, fingers working at the sunscreen across her forehead. When she parts them to look at Charlie she lets out a breathy laugh. She narrows her eyes, bites her lips and hums, head cocked. “You didn’t have _anything_ else on the ship?”

“It doesn’t come with a closet you know, I had this shoved in a weird bag I forgot about.”

Charlie’s outfit is technically better. There’s a lot less clothing, it looks breathable but there’s black tape over her nipples and her fishnet shirt is long-sleeved. At least the cutoff shorts cover her ass.

“You do realize what’s going to happen if you get a sunburn, right?”

Charlie nods her head with a wide smile and stretches out an arm to look at the pattern of the fishnet against it. “It’ll look sick.”

“You’re such a fucking idiot.”

Charlie chuckles, “Yeah, but you like me.”

Astra narrows her eyes at Charlie then flicks them over to their closest neighbors who are already giving Charlie a once-over. They don’t look pleased. “Only if you don’t get us kicked out.”

“I’ll behave.”

“You won’t.”

“For you, I will.”

This time the sincerity in Charlie’s voice is strong enough that for a moment Astra feels deeply uncomfortable. A truth spoken aloud for the first time always brings with it a sense of unease, but the moment passes and Astra nods, handing the sunscreen to Charlie. “Get my back.”

“Can I get your front too?” Charlie’s eyes dip to the vee at the front of Astra’s suit, just deep enough to expose the delicate space between her breasts.

Astra shakes her head, “You missed your chance.”

“You have to reapply every 2 hours, you know.”

“If we’re still here in 2 hours, maybe.”

Charlie squeezes far too much sunscreen into her hand, a wide smile on her face. “I like my chances then.”


End file.
